Circular-knitting machine



(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 1.

A. P. GRIFFITH & T. N. GASWELL. CIRCULAR KNITTING MAGHINE.

No. 493,924. Patented Mar. 21, 189B.

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A. P GRIFFITH & T. N. CASWELL.

CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE. No. 493,924. Patented Mar. 21, 1893.

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A. P. GRIFFITH & T. N. OASWELL.

CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE.

Patented Mar. 21, 1893.

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A. P. GRIFFITH &; T. N. OASWELL. CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE.

Patented Mar. 21

UNITE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALFRED P. GRIFFITH AND THOMAS N. CASWELL, OF MICHIGAN CITY, INDIANA.

CIRCULAR-KNITTING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 493,924, dated March21, 1893.

Application filed January 14, 1889.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ALFRED P. GRIFFITH and THOMAS N. GAswELL, citizensof the United States, residing at Michigan City, in the county of LaPorte and State of Indiana, have invented a new and useful Improvementin Circular-Knitting Machines, of which the following is aspecification.

The object of this invention is a knitting machine which will knitautomatically of two different colored yarns a fabric'with either astriped or a checkered pattern; the stripes or checks'of the one coloron the face side being free from mixture of the other color.

The nature of the invention residing as it does in the peculiar mode ofoperation of the needles and the arrangement of cams and their capacityfor adjustment will be best understood from the subjoined descriptionand claims and the accompanying drawings, which form a part of thisspecification, and in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of the entiremachine; Fig. 2 a plan view of the same with the bobbins and theirsupports removed. Fig. 3 is a view of the interior of the cam ring bywhich the needles are operated, said ring in this and the next Viewbeing supposed, for purpose of better illustration, to be cutin two atone point and laid out fiat. Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 8 with thecams automatically adjusted to the other position. Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,10, and 11 are vertical sections, respectively, on the lines 55, 66,&c., of Fig. 3, the needles being added to the view. Fig. 12 is a viewsimilar to Figs. 3 and 4 of the flattened cam ring, but showing thistime the exterior of the ring. Fig. 13 is a view of the stationary ringadjusting cam. Fig. 14 is a detail subsequently referred to, Fig. 15 adetail of the spring pawl, Fig. 16 a view of the face of one of thepatterns of fabric wrought by the machine, and Fig. 17 a view of theback of Fig. 16.

The needles are all alike in general construction and all have the usualoperating arm projecting into the groove of the cam ring. Theseoperating arms are however of unequal lengths, thus dividing the wholebody of needles into two classes, setsor Serial No. 296,322. (No model.)

the other class A having longerarms a. By

this construction, which is not a new one, the 1 two classes of needlesmay be given different movements. The long arm needles project into thering C far enough to ride in a camgroove of different line from that inwhich both needles have a common path or in which the short arm needlessolely ride. These needles are arranged in groups, the difierent kindsalternating with each other, and the groups may consist of two needleseach.

Referring to Fig. 3 which shows the interior face of the cam ring Cunrolled or flattened into a plane surface for convenience ofillustration, the path of the needles or rather of their projecting armsis indicated, that ofthe short arm class A by a broken line A, and thatof the long arm class A by a dotted line A. The cam ring moving in thedirection of the arrow on said figure it will be seen that the path ofboth classes of needles is normally along a common plane until theyreach a certain point, and at this point the long arm needles A" divergefrom said common path by rising up the incline b, to a short plane, I);At this latter point the long arm needles A take the yarn fed at 'X,which for sake of clearness let us say is the white yarn. The short armneedles A in the mean time not reaching to the innermost grooveareuninliuenced by the path I), b, but pass along on the normal or commonplane not taking any yarn, as in this position the needles cannot reachthe strand. When the other or long arm needles A pass from the shortplane 5' they are forced down by the decline b and join the needles A sothat all the needles are carrieddown, one set A having white yarn whichis pulled through or knitted and the other set Without yarn or idle.Both sets of needles now rise along the incline b to the common plane at19 The next knitting operation being designed to knit the black yarn andloop the white, the long arm needles pass up the incline b to a plane bwhich is so far above the infeeding yarn that these needles cannot takeit, and the short arm needles in the mean time pass along the commonplane to the incline b which raises them to the short plane b on thelevel with bthat is to say on the feeding or taking level, where theytake the black yarn fed at X, and descending the decline I) knit theblack yarn and bring it to the face of the fabric. After thus knittingthe black yarn the short arm needles A pass up the incline 6 to thecommon plane where they are joined by the long arm needles A the latterbeing brought down from their elevated position by the decline 1). Uponthis common plane the needles continue until the cam ring in its fartherrevolution causes them to repeat the above described operation. So longas this operation continues the machine with black and white yarn willknit a striped fabric alternately black and white,the width of thealternating stripes depending upon the number of the needles of class AorA in each group. Of course it will be understood that both the blackand the white strand are being constantly fed into the fabric; but thatstrand which is momentarily not being acted upon by the needles iscaught at a later stage and therefore loops.

- Fig. 1.

Portions of the sides of the cam groove or grooves above described aremade movable for the purpose of changing the pathof the needles, causingthe one class to knit when the other class is idle, and vice versa, toproduce a checkered pattern. Movable blocks B, B, B B the edge surfacesof which constitute portions of the walls or sides of the.

groove or grooves are provided upon the cam ring. Of these blocks B andB come out toward the inner surface of the ring only far enough toaffect the long arm needles, while B and B come out far enough to bealso in the path of the short arm needles.

In Fig. 3 above considered the blocks B and B are'shown elevated to formsome portion ofthe path, while blocks B and B in said figure are loweredout of the path entirely. We have just seen that the effect of thisarrangement of the paths of the two sets of needles is to cause the longarm needles A to take white thread at X and the short arm needles A totake black thread at X. Now referring to Fig.4 it will be noticed thatin this latter figure the blocks B, B are elevated into the path andblocks B B lowered out of the path of the needles. Following, as in Fig.3, the paths of the two sets of needles in Fig. 4 by the dotted andbroken lines, it will be seen that in this latter case the long armneedles A are-shunted by the block B into the elevated path 19corresponding in level to the path I), at which elevation the needleswill not take the yarn, while the short arm needles Aare by block Braised to the plane I) which is the height at which theneedles take theyarn. The short arm needles now take the white yarn and knit it. Thelowering of the block 13 permits the long arm needles to pass along onthe common plane so that they are not, as previously, shunted up intothe elevated plane I), but enter the incline b and reach the plane 19where they take the black yarn. The lowering of the block B permits thecam ring to turn without at this point operating the short arm needlesso that they do not rise to take the yarn at this point. The result ofthis change in the position of the cam blocks B B B B from that shown inFig. 3 to that shown in Fig. 4, is to cause that set of needles whichwere taking white yarn at X to take black yarn at X, and those needleswhich were taking black yarn atX to take white yarn at X. It will thusbe seen that having knitted a few, say six, rounds with the cams in thecondition shown at Fig. 3, producing alternate black and whitestripes,'a change of thecams to the condition shown at'Fig. A will causethe machine to knit the same kind of stripes with the difference thatthe black stripe will now be where the white stripe'was and the whitestripe where the black stripe was. And by thus alternatingthe conditionof the cams a checkered pattern is produced inthe fabric. The long arm'needles,-toget them out of knitting action, are'elevated by the camabove the knitting position while the short arm needles are keptout ofoperation,

as by being permitted to stand in the normal,

intermediate or inactive position. By this simple means of placing thedifferent sets of needles at different heights, neither set interfereswith the operation of the other and a clean black and white stripe orvcheck may be knitted.

In order that the blocks B B B 13 maybe shifted automatically in theoperation of the machine, an arm .0 passes from eachv block through aslot 0' in the cam ring and projects upon the outside of said camringwhere the arms may come into contact with inclined cam projections DD DD, which are more clearly indicated at Fig. 12. These projections D DD D are'mounted on a loose ring E, movable upon the cam ring of themachine. When this loose ring E is moved in one direction the-blocks B Bare raised by the cams D D coming in contact with and lifting the pins0, while-at the same time the weight of the blocks B B causesthem toassume the lower positionand viceversa; The. movement of the ring E ineither direction need only be great enough to effect this purpose. Thismovement is given by the bell-crank lever F, one end of which isconnected to the ring Ewhile the other end bears a projecting roller f.This lever F being pivoted to the cam ring revolves with the latter, andlocated in the proper point in its path is the sliding piece G supportedupon the stationary part of the machine, and having on its inner-face aguide groove g with flaring ends g. This slide G is arranged to be movedup and down by automatic mechanism, presently to be described. WVhen theslide G is in its upper position the roller f of the lever F coming intothe groove will be raised thereby, and the lower end of the leverattached to the ring E swung in one direction, so that the cams D D arebrought into operation, as previ-.

ously described; and when the slide G is lowered, the contrary effect isproduced upon the lever F and the cams D D brought into operation.

To automatically change the slide G from the main shaft of the machinethe following mechanism is provided. II is said main shaft. Upon the endof this main shaft is an eccentric cam H which at each revolution of themain shaft vibrates the pivoted arm J, which in turn communicatesvibration to one end of the lever K, to the other end of which isattached the pawl consisting of the rod L in the cavity in the end ofthe lever K, and forced outward by a spring L. The end of this rod orpawl where it engages the ratchet teeth is made beveled upon one sideand straight upon the other. M is a ratchet wheel mounted on the shaft Mwhich also carries a pulley P, made to receive and carry a chain B. Thischain R is composed of links r and r, the links 7" being thicker thanthe links 1". A rollers connected to a lever S rests upon this chain,and the end of this lever S is connected to the slide G. Now, as themain shaft H revolves, causing the levers J and K to vibrate, the pawlupon the lever K communicates through the ratchet M and its shaft M astep by step rotation to the pulley P which carries the chain R, theelevated links 7" of which raise the lever S as they pass under theroller 3 and said lever falls when the elevated links have passed outfrom beneath it.

The timing of the parts is such, in the machine illustrated in thedrawings, that the slide G is raised or lowered once for each sixrevolutions of the knitting machine, so that a checkered pattern isproduced each check of which is six rows in length. Any other relativetiming may be given to the slide G by removing the chain shown andsupplying its place with another having a different arrangement oflinks. When it is desired to knit plain striped goods, the chain may bethrown off from the pulley entirely, or the lever S disconnected fromthe slide G, in either of which cases said slide will not be operated,the cams in the cam ring will not be changed, and a continuous stripewill be, therefore, knitted.

We claim-- l. The knitting machine having two classes of needles,combined with yarn feeding devices, and operating means for thesaidclasses of needles whereby one class is raised above the delivery pointof the feeding devices and rendered incapable of knitting during someportion of the revolution of the machine,substantially as specified.

2. In a knitting machine the combination of two sets or classes ofneedles and actuating and holding mechanism therefor acting to maintainone set of said needles too high to knit andthe other set too low toknit during some portion of each revolution of the machine,substantially as specified.

3. The combination in a knitting machine of the needles arranged ingroups distinguished by long and short projecting arms, and a cam ringhaving grooves adapted to maintain the long'armed needles above theplane at which they will knit while the short armed needles are knittingand maintain the short armed needles below the plane at which they willknit, while the long armed needles are knitting, said grooves havingmeans, such as cam surfaces for operating the active needles to causethem to knit while the passive needles are maintained out of action, substantially as specified. V 4. The combination in a knitting machine ofthe needles arranged in groups distinguished by long and shortprojecting arms, and a cam ring having grooves adapted to maintain thelong armed needles above the plane at which they will knit while theshort armed needles are knitting, and maintain the short armed needlesbelow the plane at which they will knit, While the long armed needlesare knitting, said grooves having means such as cam surfaces foroperating the active needles to cause them to knit while the passiveneedles are maintained out of action, and said cam surfaces havingmovable portions whereby the grooves are made changeable at will, sothat the two sets of needles may be changed from one yarn to the other,substantially as described.

5. The combination in a knitting machine of the needles made with longand short arms, the cam ring having cam surfaces for operating the sameconstructed to maintain some of the needles above the plane at whichthey will knit and to maintain the other needles below the plane atwhich they will knit, said cam surfaces having blocks or movable slidesB B B B connected by intermediate mechanism to the moving parts of themachine to be automatically shifted or moved at regular intervals,substantially as described.

6. In a knitting machine the combination of the cam ring having a set ofgrooves for operating the needles constructed to elevate one part of theneedles above the knitting point while the other part is knitting and tomaintain in the common plane the other part of the needles while the onepart is knitting, and the needles A, A, said grooves having means suchas cam surfaces for operating the active needles to cause them to knitwhile the passive needles are maintained out of action, substantially asdescribed. a

7. In a knitting machine the combination of the cam ring having a set ofgrooves for operating the needles constructed to elevate one part of theneedles above the knitting point while the other part is knitting'and todepress the other part of the needles while the one partis knitting, andthe needles A, A, said grooves having means such as cam surfaces foroperating the active needles to cause them to knit while the passiveneedles are maintained out of action, said cam surfaces having movableblocks B, B, B 13 forming some portion of the grooves, substantially asdescribed.

8. In a knitting machine the combination of the needles A A and the camring having the grooves with the various horizontal and inclinedsurfaces 17, b',b b b 6 11 ,12 b b 12 b, 19 the common groove and themovable blocks B, B, B B substantially as specified.

9. In a knitting machine the combination of the needles A A, the camring having grooves constructed to elevate the needles A ALFRED P.GRIFFITH. THOMAS N. CASWELL.

Witnesses RICHARD W. STREET, ELBERT O. WELLS.

